Defense Sec. Robert Gates is betting that Americans' frustration with a ballooning deficit will finally allow him to trim one of the government's most politically protected entitlement programs, the military's $50 billion-a-year health care system. The defense chief has tried to push similar proposals through Congress before and failed. And this year's pitch is a particularly fraught with political risk. President Barack Obama is defending his own health care plan from threats of repeal in the House, while Republicans are looking for ways ahead of the 2012 election to discredit the administration's commitment to the troops. more